This BBC Past Doctor Adventure, featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace, is set somewhere after the televised story Survival and before the Virgin New Adventures story Timewyrm:  Genesis. This book could be the prologue to the televised story The Invasion, featuring the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe; and introduces UNIT with the newly promoted Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

The Doctor and Ace find themselves in World War II London where the Blitz might be the least of their problems. An American private investigator, Cody McBride, had seen a mysterious sphere crash in London. Major Lazonby of British Intelligence has it carried to a factory run by a man named Peddler. Chief Inspect Mullen, Special Branch, is investigating Peddler’s death and a man named Wall. George Limb, former foreign office worker who now runs most of London’s nefarious criminal world, is working on both sides of the War but in the pursuit of knowledge.

This book starts as if it’s going to be a slow burn but once out of the gate, it never really stops. The Doctor, Ace, McBride, and/or Mullen in various combinations spend a considerable amount of time running all over London; often with the Doctor feeling like his opponent is a step ahead. McBride and Mullen are characters one comes to like. Limb is likeable at first but his motives change the way one thinks about him. Lazonby and his German counterpart, Hartmann, are both insane.

I think this is the first book by this author pair I’ve read and I don’t recall having read either of them individually. I can’t really tell who wrote what parts, which is not a bad thing. It blends fairly well. Though, there are times when the narrative makes a leap in the story that doesn’t read well. I felt like I’d missed part of the narrative. Such as, how did the caretaker in the pumping station know the metal men were Cybermen? I don’t think Ace told him, unless I read past some bit of dialog. There are a couple of places like that and where the scene jumps. I think